Goods In Custody charges

Our client had taken a cab ride home and upon arriving at home, realized that the wallet in his pocket was not his, but someone else’s. The police were called because he was unable to pay his fare. He was charged with having unlawfully obtained goods in custody that were reasonably suspected of having been stolen.

Case Result:

It was clear from the evidence that there was a technical deficiency in the police case. A legal technicality required that the wallet actually be found in our client’s possession at the time he was arrested and all the evidence made it clear that he gave the wallet to the taxi driver before the police arrived.

Our solicitor made an opening address that caused the police to drop the charge without needing to hear any of the evidence. For the police to have succeeded, they would have had to charge our client pursuant to section 527C(1)(c) of the Crimes Act. Instead, the charged him under the wrong section. It pays to know the law

Apart from running a technical defence, there was also a statutory defence available. The client was particularly pleased that he had engaged a criminal law expert at Nyman Gibson Miralis to win his case.